Juhel CEO Okoye emerges MAN president

MAN President, Ifeanyi Okoye

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has elected Dr Ifeanyi Okoye, Chief Executive Officer of Juhel Nigeria Limited, as its 12th president.

Okoye succeeds Francis Meshioye, who completed his four-year tenure, following the election at MAN’s 54th Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday.

MAN Director-General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, announced Okoye’s emergence in a statement on Friday.

Okoye, who founded Juhel Nigeria Limited in 1987, leads a wholly indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturing company headquartered in Enugu State.

The company expanded its operations over the years, moving to its permanent site in Emene, Enugu, in December 1989 before adding syrup and capsule production facilities in 2001. It opened a major parenteral manufacturing facility in Awka, Anambra State, in 2010.

The new MAN president holds a pharmacy degree from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, as well as master’s and doctorate degrees in Pharmaceutical Technology and Industrial Pharmacy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he graduated as the best student in his class.

He is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and an alumnus of Harvard Business School in the United States. He is also a member of the National Institute, having attended the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau State.

The Federal Government conferred the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic on him in 2012.

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Okoye has also served on several public-sector committees, including the Ministerial Committee on the Establishment of World-Class Hospitals and Diagnostic Centres between 2013 and 2015.

He served on the Governing Council of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria from 2009 to 2022.

His election followed decades of involvement in MAN’s activities, including his service as chairman of the association’s Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states branches between 1998 and 2005.

He subsequently served as the association’s vice-president from 2006 to 2010 before emerging as its national president.

His emergence comes as Nigerian manufacturers continue to contend with high production costs, infrastructure deficits, foreign exchange pressures, and other constraints affecting industrial competitiveness.

Arinze Nwafor is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with five years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s economy, industry, data, metro, and judiciary. He focuses on highlighting growth, policy, and market challenges shaping Africa’s largest economy. Arinze’s reporting reflects practical newsroom experience, editorial judgment, and a strong commitment to accurate, informative, and audience-focused journalism.